One Day
by Muzzy-Olorea
Summary: [BB] Set after [2.12 The Man In The Cell] Not today, not tomorrow but maybe one day….. one day they could go down that road.


**One Day**

**BB Set after S2 'The Man In The Cell' Not today, not tomorrow but maybe one day….. one day they could go down that road.**

_**Disclaimer: I have custody of my Muse and the plot but I humbly acknowledge that I have no jurisdiction over the characters themselves.**_

**A/N:- Yup, I gave into my Muse and wrote another post-ep.**

**'One Day' – Roger Daltrey**

Hearing Booth say that last statement confirmed what Brennan had known all along and she felt deep empathy for him. If she was into psychology and the like she would have known it was often called the hero complex, but for her, she just saw Booth as the guy who wanted to constantly ensure everyone's happiness and he wanted to do right by everyone he cared about. It was a compulsive, impulsive thing akin to her desire to always be able to explain things in rational terms. Looked like they were both learning the hard way to deal with the issues left by not always be able to do what they both sought to be able to do.

"Booth, you always make things right." Brennan said, leaning forward and mirroring his position, placing a hand on his back supportively. "For however long we've worked together everything I've seen you do has been for a reason, the right reason. You cannot carry the blame every time life doesn't go perfectly." She paused and took her hand away and stared at the ground. "You have to learn to live your life without feeling responsible for everything …… I mean look at me. If I carried the blame on my shoulders of everything that has been my fault over the past few months then I wouldn't even be able to stand!" She said with a small laugh.

Booth touched her hand lightly and forced her to look at him. He had a lot to deal with – mending his relationship with his son, getting over the irrational blame he put on himself for letting Epps fall, learning to let Camille go and make himself promise to keep to his resolve to never cross the line between work and personal life again – but he was glad Brennan had shown up here today. "If I've got to learn not to feel responsible for everything then you've got to learn not to blame yourself for everything too Bones." Booth said.

"We make a right pair." Brennan said, laughing lightly.

"We sure do." Booth said, treating her to his first real smile since the case had ended.

Brennan picked some invisible lint off her jacket. "You know I'm probably going to regret saying this……… but to us squints you are really are a hero – both an ideological one and a physical one."

Booth grinned. "Wow that must have been hard for you to say." He teased but truthfully her words meant the world to him.

Brennan smiled slightly before her face turned serious again as they made eye contact. "I mean the number of times you've been there for me and I know I don't say it enough but I really-"

"It's okay Bones." Booth said, his hand on her thigh, stopping her from saying anything else.

Brennan nodded slightly and before any more words could be said, Parker came bounding over to them.

"Dr Brennan!" he called happily, a grin replacing the scared look he wore only a few minutes ago. "Temperance." He said, articulating every syllable of her first name proudly.

Brennan smiled, surprised that the little boy remembered her name from those few times they had met before. "Hey there Parker! Did you have fun?"

Parker nodded and then tugged on his father's hand. "Can I go again? With you and Dr Brennan?" he pleaded.

Booth smiled, glad that his relationship with Parker had been mended. He looked over at Brennan. "You ever been on a carousel before Bones?"

"Many many years ago." She said as they got to their feet. Her parents used to take her and Russ to the fairground nearly every weekend during happier times but she wasn't going to dwell on that now.

"The key to this is picking the right horse." Booth muttered to her confidentially as he handed over some notes to the attendant as Parker ran ahead. "You see Parker always chooses the same horse don't you buddy?" Booth said, lifting his son up onto the horse. "Now you've gotta pick yours Bones." He instructed

"I don't see what the big deal is – they're all the same." Brennan said, looking around.

Booth heaved a sigh. "You've gotta have some imagination Bones!" he said as they climbed onto ones next each other and behind Parker's.

The creaking out-of-tune fairground music started and the carousel slowly began to move. "What's your horse called?" Booth asked as he strained to look at his own.

"Destiny." Brennan read from the scruffily painted script around the horse's neck. "Yours?"

"Patience." Booth said dejectedly.

"Which we all know you've got a lot of!" Brennan laughed.

Booth gave a forced smile as he took in the irony of it all. He believed in destiny and he had a feeling that his partner would be a big part of it. He was just going to have to have a lot of patience before they got to the happily-ever-after bit.

He bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from letting out a real smile as he watched Parker turn round to wave at them and Brennan wave back and then remind him to hang on tight, maternal instinct kicking in.

Feeling slightly surprised at her automatic concern, she then looked to the side watching the world spin round around them. She felt carefree and childlike again and that feeling was very liberating. She looked over at Booth and knew that he felt it too – it was like the weight of the world couldn't crush them from here.

The ride came to an end all too soon and Booth watched his son jump down as he held his hand out to Brennan to help her down. Her instinct reaction was to say how she was perfectly capable of doing it herself and as she looked at Booth, she knew that was what he was waiting for her to say so she took a deep breath, swallowed her pride and took his hand as she jumped the short way to the ground. She heard Booth chuckle as his hand on her back guided her out of the crowd.

Brennan felt bittersweet emotions as she walked with Booth and Parker through the park, taking note of how they both included her in their banter: Booth would throw a 'Whatcha reckon Bones?' in now and again and Parker would reach up and tug on her sleeve every time he wanted her attention – which was apparently quite often.

She was sad because this reminded her of those happy times when she used to have days out in the park with her family years ago. She was happy because it was nice to feel included. She was scared at how even though she had always sworn she would never want to be a part of this kind of dynamic, she was actually feeling rather warm and gooey. She was glad that Booth had perked up from earlier. She was touched that Booth trusted and cared for her enough to let her in on his family time. She was nervous that going by what she thought Booth was insinuating earlier, she hadn't imagined what was simmering between them. She was disappointed that Booth had been right by pointing out that doing high-risk jobs like they did, there had to be an uncrossable line between them………………………………

"You okay Bones?" Booth asked with a smile, nudging her playfully.

"Sure." She replied, a contemplative look on her face. "I'm just wondering whether it's too early in the day for ice cream?"

"Ice cream!" Parker exclaimed, jumping up and down excitedly.

"Thanks Bones. You've kind of backed me into the corner." Booth muttered through his teeth before addressing Parker. "What's the rule? No sweets before lunch."

"Please Daddy, just this once." Parker begged.

Booth had his serious, unrelenting face on but he knew there was no use trying to resist the wide-eyed puppy look his son was giving him right now, especially when he could see Brennan smiling at him out of the corner of his eye. "Fine!" He said, throwing his hands in the air in surrender. "I'll buy you both ice creams if you can make it to the stand before me!" He said, addressing Brennan like she was a child.

"Come on!" Parker cried, tugging on Brennan's hand and before she knew it she was being dragged across the park. Booth jogged behind them, pretending to have trouble keeping up. Brennan looked over her shoulder at him as she ran and he gave her a wink. He loved how well Parker had taken to Brennan and how, just in this moment, all the pieces in his life fit together and felt right.

"Come on Dr Brennan! Faster, he's catching up!" Parker insisted. Brennan laughed at his urgency as her slow jog met the small child's fastest run.

"Come on, nearly there!" She said as they arrived at the ice cream stand out of breath.

"Okay you win!" Booth said with a grin and ordered three cones with large scoops of chocolate ice cream on them.

Then they found a secluded bench which Booth and Brennan sat on whilst Parker lay on the grass at their feet playing with a toy car with one hand, the dripping ice cream in the other.

"This is nice." Booth said, wiping his hands with the napkin and leaning back with a contented sigh.

"What?" Brennan asked as she finished the last bit of her ice cream.

"You, me, Parker, the park – normalcy."

Brennan smiled. "Still hoping for that white picket fence dream …"

"What's so wrong about that? Come on, you've got to admit this is nice, right?" Booth pushed.

Brennan sighed softly. It _was_ nice. Spending time with Booth out of work, getting to experience that 'family' feeling which she had always insisted she would never miss not having but seeing how the smallest thing she or Booth said would make Parker laugh and smile, she had to admit that there were very many rewarding aspects to having a kid around. When she found out Booth had a child, she never thought she would fit into that picture but yet sitting here now, she realised just how easy Booth and Parker made it to feel like she belonged. Brennan nodded. "Yes, yes it is nice." She said, watching Parker run his toy car through the grass.

Booth felt his heart warm as he looked at her and heard her words. He wanted to be able to record this entire morning and play it over and over. Right now he didn't care about his job or climbing his way up the Bureau ladder, all he wanted was this, them, every single day…. But he knew there were always going to be things in life that he wanted but would never get and this came top of that list.

He chuckled as he saw that Brennan had managed to get ice cream around her mouth. He instinctively reached out and cradling her cheek in the palm of his hand, he wiped the corner of her mouth with his thumb, keeping his hand there just a fraction too long. She stared at him, bright-eyed and with a hint of longing in her eyes. God how much did he wish that they could be just a man and a woman in a park and not two partners whose objectivity at work must not be blurred anymore than it already was.

"I'm sorry." He sighed, dropping his hand, realising how close they'd become.

She gave him a small smile of understanding and then turned her attention back to Parker who was beginning to describe vividly an activity at school he had participated in.

Brennan knew that what had just passed between her and Booth was the closest they had ever come to acknowledging the underlying feelings they had and it was a very bittersweet moment.

She glanced back at him and held his gaze for a split second.

They both knew what they both wanted and they both knew that they couldn't. Not today, not next month, not next year but maybe one day. One day when he was on desk duty and she was content to stay in the lab. Maybe one day they could go down that road.

**A/N:- As always, every review brings a drop of happiness and all feedback is appreciated.**


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